<html><head><style type='text/css'>p { margin: 0; }</style></head><body><div style='font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; color: #006600'>Hi<br><br>Sorry to spam you like this, but there may be a huge influx of calls after this event which I have already got reports of it seen in Clanwilliam, Cape Town and I saw it form Wellington. Because if its huge size, it looked remarkably close, so people are likely to think it was a local event.<br><br>Attached are pictures taken by Greg Roberts - <span class="userContent">field of view- 7.6 x 5.7 degrees, 135mm f/2.8 lens with FLI CCD camera- exposure 1 second. No processing done.</span> It happened around 20h40.<br>ave ever seen -- when it first came
into my field of view I thought it was the lights of an aircraft - I
could hear one- so I let it pass through the field of view. After a few
seconds I thought I had better go and set the mount at the culmination position and sure enough on time came the spectacle!!! Absolutely
beautiful !!! Now people might understand why I am so daft and mad about
satellites - it is moments like this that make it so rewarding!!!!<span class="userContent">Greg wrote: "Well I hoped some people had a look - an
absolutely fantastic sight!!! Spot on time but we were treated to two
objects - the OTV3 craft as well as the second stage rocket but even
better was the very bright plume ahead of OTV3 which was due to probably
hydrogen venting. I obtained numerous photographs as well as video and
will post some tomorrow -- </span><span class="userContent">when it first came into my field of view I
thought it was the lights of an aircraft - I could hear one- so I let it
pass through the field of view. After a few seconds I thought I had
better go and set the mount at the culmination position and sure enough
on time came the spectacle!!! Absolutely beautiful!!! Now people might
understand why I am so daft and mad about satellites - it is moments
like this that make it so rewarding!!!!</span>"<br><br>OTV is effectively a mini Space Shuttle. For more information see http://www.mnassa.org.za/html/Jun2010/2010MNASSA..69..Jun.pdf page 102-106.<br><br>Regards<br>Willie<br><br>-- <br><div><span name="x"></span> Mr. W.P. Koorts ( wpk@saao.ac.za )<br> South African Astronomical Observatory<br> P.O. Box 9, Observatory, 7935, South Africa<br> Tel.(27) (21) 460 9334 Fax.(27) (21) 447 3639<br> World Wide Web (Work) http://www.saao.ac.za<br> World Wide Web ( Personal ) http://wpk.saao.ac.za<span name="x"></span><br></div></div></body></html>